Reopening the investigation of an over-36-year-old sensational and gruesome double murder case, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police raided nine locations in the Union Territory on Wednesday.
The 36-year, three-month, and 14-day-long heinous case relates to the kidnapping and murder of Kashmiri Pandit writer, poet, and social activist Sarvanand Kaul Premi and his son Virendra Kaul.
According to officials, the SIA Kashmir team acted under FIR No. 45/1990 registered at the Dooru police station in Anantnag district of South Kashmir. The SIA is now investigating this long-pending case.
Investigations reveal that Sarvanand Kaul Premi and his son Virendra Kaul, residents of Sof Shali in the Kokernag area of Anantnag, were kidnapped and murdered in 1990. Premi was a well-known writer and social activist.
Officials stated that the action taken today was an important step in advancing the investigation. The SIA is now thoroughly examining the circumstances of the murder, the individuals involved, and other aspects to bring this nearly three-decade-old case to a decisive conclusion.
However, detailed information about the locations searched and what was recovered has not yet been released. Officials said the results of the search operation and information about further action may be shared later.
Reports indicated that the raids were carried out across nine locations in Jammu and Kashmir — six in the Rajouri district, two in Jammu, and one in Kashmir. Sources said the searches targeted properties and individuals believed to be linked to the conspiracy behind the 1990 abductions, though the exact locations and any recoveries made during the raids have not yet been officially disclosed.
Assassination of Prominent Kashmiri Pandit and Poet Sarvanand Kaul Premi and His Son
During the wave of terrorism in Kashmir in the early 1990s, a planned execution took place to eliminate members of the minority community from the Valley. Prominent Kashmiri Pandits were murdered in an attempt to dismantle their leadership.
One such prominent personality was the renowned scholar and poet, Sarvanand Kaul Premi. A social activist and freedom fighter of the Quit India movement, Premi lived with his family in Jammu and Kashmir. He was deeply religious yet liberal. When attacks on Kashmiri Hindus began, his family tried to convince him to leave the Valley, but he refused, believing in the secular traditions of his homeland.
On the evening of 29 April 1990, three terrorists entered his house in Sof Shali village, Kokernag, Anantnag, and ordered the entire family to gather in one room. They demanded that all valuables — gold, jewellery, cash, pashmina garments, saris, shawls, and other belongings — be collected. Ornaments worn by family members were forcibly taken. After gathering the valuables, the terrorists asked the soft-spoken Premi to accompany them, assuring his frightened family that he would return.
Virendra Kaul, Premi’s eldest son, requested to accompany his father to guide him back home in the dark. The terrorists agreed, and both father and son left the house.
They never returned. On 1 May 1990, their bodies were found. Both had been brutally murdered. The incident shocked the community. Premi’s forehead, where he traditionally applied sandalwood paste, was pierced with a sharp weapon, and his skin peeled off. Their bodies bore marks of cigarette burns, broken limbs, and gouged eyes. They were later hanged and shot to ensure death.
A firm believer in secular India, Premi kept a rare manuscript of the holy Quran in his prayer room, treating it with reverence. Yet the killers showed no hesitation in brutally murdering this dignified man and his son.